Floor and wall covering



PY 13, 1943 .1. w. sTALLlNc-:s 2,315,746

FLOOR AND WALL COVERING Filed July 24. 1941 Patented Apr. 13, 1943UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOOR- AND WALL COVERING James WilliamStallings, Haddon Heights, N. J.,

assignor to Rohm & Haas Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation ofDelaware Application July 24, 1941, serial No. 403,813.2

6 Claims.

- replace burlap, but this substitution has not provided a satisfactoryproduct. This replacement is particularly important at the present timebecause of difiiculties'encountered in obtaining burlap and of thedesire to use domestic supplies of cotton.

The linoleum heretofore prepared with a. cotton backing has not Ibeenfully satisfactory, because under the influence of water or moisturecurling and buckling have occurred. Floor or wall coverings of thistype, even though held with a waterproof cement, frequently open at theseams.

It is an object of this invention to prepare linoleum floor or wallcovering which is not distorted by moisture or water and which remainssmooth and plane when applied to a surface.

It has now been found that non-buckling, distortion-free linoleum may beprepared by impregnating a cotton cloth with a solution of a watersoluble carbamide-formaldehyde condensate to impart thereto about 10% toabout of resin, referred to the weight of the cloth/drying the cloth,applying to one face thereof a linoleum coating composition, and

curing the coating on the cloth. If desired, pre-` liminary to theapplication of the coating composition there may be applied to the drycloth a sealing coat of a thick pigmented lacquer or dope This improvesthe. adhesion of the linoleum materials to the base.

Figure l of the drawing is a cross sectional view of the floor and wallcovering of this invention. Figure 2 is a perspective view of same.

As a suitable water-soluble carbamide-form- -aldehyde condensate theremay be used the solbamide formaldehyde condensate. Aqueous solutionscontaining 8% to 30% of such a condensate ymay be used for impregnating'the cotton cloth. Excess solution is removed by squeezing,slot-extracting, or other suitable procedure. The amount of condensateretained by the fabric depends upon the concentration of the solutionused and upon the extent of re-, moval of solution.

To the impregnating solution there is preferably added an acid-typecatalyst for hardening the condensate. There may be used as a catalyst aweak acid, such as acetic, formic,` or lactic acid, an acid salt, suchas monoor dimethylamine hydrochloridaor an ammonium salt, such asammonium Aphosphate or ammonium thiocyanate. These catalysts are used atconcentrations which do not cause coagulation or gelation of thetreating solution. The addition of ammonia to this solution helps toprevent premature coagulation during application of the solution to thefabric.

There may also be used in the impregnating solution a wetting andpenetrating agent, suchas sodium octylphenoxyethyl sulfate or sodiumoctylphenoxyethoxyethoxyethyl sulfonate. The

use of a wetting agent is of particular value when grey goods or sizedcotton fabrics are used forbacking.

After the cotton cloth has been impregnated with a solution containing aurea-formaldehyde or other carbamide-formaldehyde condensate, it isdried on cans or .in an enclosed drier at normal or elevatedtemperature. At this point it is usually desirable, if the cloth has notalready been sized, to increase the body and weight of the cloth bysizing with a starchy composition. The desirability of this operationwill depend on the construction and weight of the cloth,` upon theamount of size already present, land upon the nature of the ,coatingmaterials to be applied thereto. -When the con struction is open and oflight weight, sizing be-4 comes particularly desirable.

vAs the coating or overlay there may be used the usual linoleum mixbased on lin'oxyn. This may be calendered or pressed onto the prepared-base which is substantially dry and hard. If desired, the compositesheet may be embossed.

After the fabricated sheet has been cured by stoving in the usualmanner, there results a covering material which rolls well and yet maybe spread evenly and easily on floor or wall. Since it is not sensitiveto moisture, it remains flat and smooth without curling or buckling.

As typical of the preparation oi.' covering material, the followingexamples are cited.

Example 1 A 67 x 40, 2 yd. grey cotton sheeting was padded lthrough asolution containing 15% of water-soluble methylol urea, 0.3% of ammoniumthiocyanate, and 0.4% o! sodium lsooctylphenoxyethoxyethyl suli'onate.The cloth was then dried on cans and passed through a size bath preparedfrom 100 lbs. of converted com starch lbs. oi talc. 20 lbs. of glue, and1000 lbs. of water, and again dried on a stack of cans heated with steamat 10 lbs. pressure. The sized fabric was then coated with a pigmentedlacquer paste prepared from 27 parts ci' nicrocellulose, 53 parts ofcastor oil, 20 parts of titanium oxide, and 200 parts of solventconsisting of 35% of ethano1,v25% of ethyl acetate,

5% of butyl acetate, and 25% of toluol. The lacquer coat was dried. bypassing the cloth through a steam-heated oven. There was then calenderedonto the coated fabric a linoxyn mix made'from 10 parts of 'linoxyn and17 parts of llers and pigments. 'Ihe sheet was stoved forfour days at19o-200 F. The product resisted Ibuckling and curling when moistened orSteamed.

Eample 2 Another lot of cotton sheeting in the grey with the warp'heavily sized was padded through a solution containing 10% of awater-semble condensate of urea, formaldehyde, and a small amount ofthiourea, 0.1% of ammonium phosphate. 0.1% of sodium sulfate, and 0.5%of sodium isooctylphenoxyethyl sulfate. The cloth was then passed overcans heated to 300 F. The dry cloth was then sized as in the previousexample, coated with a lacquer dope, calendered with a linoleum mix, andstoved. The

v during stoving.

above examples. The wall covering thus obtained remained 'iiat 'when wetand was entirely satisfactory in all respects;

In the processing of cotton cloth with a carbamide-formaldehydecondensate results comparable to those obtained in the above examplesareobtained by impregnating cloth coated with a linoleum mix and thenstoving or heating'the -iloor or wall covering. This method, however.

about 10% to -about 20% oi condensate to the finished product wasentirely satisfactory as a wall covering, having a'smooth, plane surfaceand remaining ilat when wet.

Example 3 A piece of 62 x 48, 1.9 yd. cotton sheeting'was padded througha solution containing 9% of methylol urea, 0.75% ofthe water-solublewetting agent prepared by reaction of octylphenol and ethylene oxide,and 10% ot an emulsioncontaining 32% of a non-drying oil-modined alkydresin, 8% of an organic solvent-soluble v condensate of. urea,formaldehyde, and butanol,

and 3% of cetyldimenthylamine acetate as an emulsner. The cloth wasdried and heated for l2 minutes in a tenter at 300 F. The cloth was thensized, dried, coated' with a lacquer dope, dried again, calendered witha thin cloth, drying the cloth, applying a linoleum coating compositionto-one face of the cloth, and y heating the coated cloth.

. 2. The process of claim 1 in which the carv bamide-formaldehydecondensate is one obtained from urea and formaldehyde.

3. The process of preparing non-buckling, distortion-free linoleum andwall covering having a cotton back which comprises'impreg'nating cottoncloth with a water-soluble carbamide-formaldehyde vcondensate to impartabout 10% to about 20% of condensate to the cloth, drying the cloth,sizing. the cloth, applying to one face thereof 4a layer of. a linoleumcoztlilng composition, and heating the' coated 4. The process ofpreparingA non-buckling, distortion-,free lonoleum and wall coveringhaving a cotton back which comprises impregnat-` ing cotton cloth withabout 10% to about 20% of a urea-formaldehyde Acondensate based on the`weight of the cloth, drying the impregnated cloth, l'coating the driedcloth with a lacquer,-

applying tothe lacquered tace thereof a layer oi a lonoleum coatingcomposition, and heating the coated cloth. l

5. A distortion-free, non-buckling wall and :door covering comprising acotton backing containing about l0% to about 20% ofacarbamide-formaldehyde resin and 'a linoleum mix overlay.

6. A distortion-free non-buckling wall and floor covering comprising acotton bachng conl taining about 10% to about y30% of a urealayer oflinoleum mix', and stoved. as in the i formaldehyde resin and a-linoleum mix overlay.

STALLINGS.

